


The Multiplayers

by CalistaWon



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Real Person Fiction, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bands, Band Fic, Bass Player Ranboo, Drummer TommyInnit, Gen, Guitar Player Purpled, IRL Fic, Keyboard/Synth Player Tubbo, Lead Singer Tubbo, Music, No shipping, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Secret Identity, They're still streamers!, Toby Smith | Tubbo-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:14:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29956665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CalistaWon/pseuds/CalistaWon
Summary: The Multiplayers are a faceless band that the internet has gone wild about. They started by playing covers and posting them on YouTube but now they’ve got a slew of original songs and one hell of a fanbase.Tubbo, Ranboo, Tommy, and Purpled start the band as a joke after a stream one day because “oh, haha, we all play instruments!” but now people actually like their songs… not that anybody actually knows the songs are theirs.
Relationships: Grayson | Purpled & Ranboo & Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, Grayson | Purpled & Toby Smith | Tubbo, No Romantic Relationship(s), Ranboo & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit
Comments: 225
Kudos: 947
Collections: Chossi's fic reccomendations for the soul





	1. I'm Finding My Way

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I don’t know where this idea came from, to be honest, but I decided I just had to write it, so here you go! 
> 
> (For those of you who are reading my “Can’t Be Herself” series, chapter three of Destroy the Transphobes (Karl Jacobs Yells at a Transphobe) will hopefully be done soon!)
> 
> I hope you enjoy the fic!
> 
> -Cal

It starts with Bedwars. Purpled had wanted to do a video with Ranboo, Tommy, and Tubbo so they’d joined one of his streams to get footage. Tubbo has fun. It’s nice to just let loose and have a little fun with his friends every once in a while. When the stream ends, Tommy and Purpled continue to play while Tubbo and Ranboo just chat in the background. 

“Oh!” Tubbo exclaims at one point.

“Oh?” Ranboo asks. 

“Shit!” Tommy shouts as his character gets knocked into the void. 

“I got a new instrument!” Tubbo says happily, ignoring Tommy’s grumbling and Purpled’s laughing. 

“What is it? Another ukulele?” Ranboo jokes. Tubbo snickers, looking to the several ukuleles he’s already got hanging on his wall. 

“No,” Tubbo says. “It’s a synthesizer.”

“Wait, really?” Purpled asks. “A synth?” 

Tubbo hums in conformation. It’s a really cool instrument and though it took a while to get the hang of it, he doesn’t think he’s half bad. He’s created some pretty great sounds with it. 

“Damn,” Ranboo says. “That’s actually pretty cool.”

“Thank you,” Tubbo says, then laughs as Tommy dies and Purpled wins the game. 

“Fucking hell!” Tommy shouts. 

“Hey Purpled,” Ranboo says once the other two have started up another game, “do you play any instruments?”

Purpled breaks someone’s bed. “Yep. Guitar.”

“Ha!” Tommy laughs. “Everybody but Ranboo plays an instrument.”

“Wait what do you play?” Purpled asks.

“Piano,” Tommy admits immediately, then clearing his throat, he quietly adds, “and drums.”

“You play drums?” Ranboo asks, ignoring the jab. 

“Yes!” Tommy shouts as he wins a fight and breaks somebody’s bed. “And yes, I play the drums. What of it?”

“Nothing, just…” Ranboo starts laughing uncontrollably. “We- we could make a band!” he barely gets the words out as he laughs. Tubbo starts laughing too. That would be cool. And hilarious. Twitter would have a field day. 

“Are we ignoring the fact that you can’t play an instrument?” Purpled asks him. 

“Don’t trust what Tommy says,” Ranboo tells the other boy. “I play bass.”

...

So, Tubbo knows it started as a joke but… it actually sounds pretty cool. Starting a band, that is. It’s a few days later and they’re all coincidentally on call with one other again, none of them streaming, when _Tommy,_ of all people, brings it up again. 

“What would we even call ourselves?” Tommy jokes. He gets three answers in quick succession.

“The Bumblebees,” Tubbo says immediately.

“The Children,” Ranboo suggests, much less seriously.

“The Multiplayers,” Purpled says. 

The call goes silent for a moment, then Ranboo says, “Hold on. Purpled, that isn’t bad.” 

...

One thing leads to another and… suddenly, they’re posting a song to YouTube on a new channel called The Multiplayers. The channel isn’t linked to any of them and the song is just an audio - over an image of a sunset Purpled took a while ago - so nobody can connect their faces to their channels. They collectively decided that they wouldn’t show their faces as The Multiplayers so that if people liked them, they liked them for the music, not because they were already fans. Plus, it’s kind of funny having some sort of secret identity. 

The song they post is a cover of “Weird!” by Yungblud and Tubbo isn’t sure how it happened but he ends up being lead vocals. It was difficult to put together, considering they’re scattered across two different countries and all. However, with learning how to use the synth, Tubbo learned a little about mixing too, so he was able to put all of their separate pieces together into one song. 

The video gets four views, and three likes, probably from Yungblud fans who were just looking for covers. 

None of them really care that it doesn’t get much attention. It was just a fun thing they figured they’d do because _why not?_

After doing “Weird!” and generally having a lot of fun with it, Ranboo suggests they just keep doing covers. Tommy agrees, citing that it’s nice to actually be doing something with his drumming knowledge since he hasn’t really played much since getting big on Twitch (and since starting college). 

“Even if mother and fatherinnit complain about all the noise,” Tommy says, as if he’s actually making more noise than he usually does (he’s not, it’s just a different _kind_ of noise).

The second song they do is “Techno Show” by Peach Pit. It doesn’t really require any piano or synth which ends up reinforcing Tubbo’s role as lead vocalist. Tommy ends up as, like, the _lead backing vocalist_ because Purpled doesn’t want to sing and Ranboo isn’t sure if he’s comfortable actually recording his singing yet. Purpled also ends up having to do both the lead guitar _and_ the rhythm guitar parts. It’s fine, though, because then Tubbo just mixes it all together. 

The video is once again only audio with no video footage, just a poor-quality photo Tubbo took of a rainy sky last week. This time they overlay the photo with the title of the song and the original band’s name, as well as their band’s name. 

It gets one view, one like, not that any of them notice. They _are_ still busy doing other things like making videos and streaming on the Dream SMP. 

...

Tommy proposes they cover Taylor Swift on the same day that Ranboo suggests they make a TikTok account, which Tommy vehemently opposes. 

“It _is_ how I got big as a streamer, though,” Ranboo urges. “Well, that and the SMP… But it would give our band a bit more exposure! We just have to upload, like, a few seconds of one of our covers and then tell people to check us out on YouTube.”

Tommy leaves the Discord call. Tubbo laughs and Purpled snorts at his antics. When Tommy returns a few seconds later, he sighs heavily. “Fine,” he pretends to say begrudgingly, “we’ll make a TikTok.”

They record a cover of “Betty” first. It’s a little more pop-punk than Taylor Swift’s version but it sounds nice. Tubbo gets to play around with some effects on the vocals (his again, he thinks he may have officially been dubbed lead singer) when he’s mixing the song to get a sort of far-away effect on the second part of the pre-chorus after verse three. 

They post the audio from the first chorus on TikTok. 

They post the full cover on YouTube.

“Betty” gets forty-six views, and twenty-seven likes. The Multiplayers get eleven subscribers.

...

It’s _One Direction_ that makes The Multiplayers famous. It’s been a few months since they started the band. They’ve covered songs like “Minutes Away” by Jeremy Shada, “Shotgun” by George Ezra (in which Ranboo joined Tommy in doing backing vocals), a few more Peach Pit songs, and “Cabinet Man” by Lemon Demon. 

And then Tubbo and Tommy are in a call with the Dream Team and Quackity one night. And Sapnap is streaming. And he gets a dono asking him what his favourite One Direction song is. 

Sapnap, Dream, and Quackity get into a small debate over it and eventually conclude that Midnight Memories and Night Changes are pretty okay.

Tubbo knows that the second they say that, Tommy must have a shit-eating grin on his face. Sure enough, just a second after everyone has moved on from One Direction, Tommy sends something to The Multiplayers Discord chat. 

And _that_ is how they end up doing a cover of “Midnight Memories” by One Direction.

All four of them sing. They each play their parts. Tubbo mixes it all together. 

They post it on YouTube.

They post a clip of it on TikTok. 

It _blows up_. 

The _band_ blows up. 

Because of _One_ fucking _Direction_.

Tubbo laughs about it with Ranboo for a good ten minutes after they realize that. 

...

A week after _One Direction_ , The Multiplayers have a pretty decent following. A lot of the people who watched “Midnight Memories” clearly went back and listened to their other covers because the viewer counts on those increase drastically. 

But then people start _asking_ about them. The band has created a Twitter and an Instagram at this point and they keep getting questions. Who are you? How many members are in your band? Do you make original music? What are your names? Who plays what? 

So they go with:

Player One: Keys/synth, lead vocals.

Player Two: Bass, backing vocals

Player Three: Guitar, Rhythm Guitar

Player Four: Drums, lead backing vocals

And people kind of _love_ it. They like the mystery, the secrecy, the unknown. And so, The Multiplayers amass a following. 

...

“I wrote a song,” is the first thing Tubbo says when The Multiplayers have their next call. He’s really excited about it, especially since he wrote it for his ukulele instead of on keys. 

“Oh,” Ranboo says. “Me too.”

“Are you guys being serious?” Purpled asks, sounding incredulous. Is this something to be incredulous about? 

“Yes?” Tubbo responds. Ranboo hums. Tommy starts laughing, which isn’t unusual for Tommy but is unusual in the sense that Tubbo doesn’t understand what’s funny. 

“I wrote a song as well,” Tommy says, catching his breath. Okay, yeah, it’s pretty funny, Tubbo must admit. 

“Wait, Tommy, really?” Ranboo asks.

“What?” Tommy says, a little defensively. “You sound surprised. Don’t think I can do it, Big Man?” 

“No, no,” Ranboo says. “I just didn’t know writing was something you wanted to do. Let’s hear it.”  
“Uh, before you start, Tommy,” Purpled butts in, “I should tell you guys that I may have also written one. A song, I mean.”

...

They end up releasing Purpled’s song first, mostly because it’s easier to add other instruments to a song that was originally written on a guitar. At least, for them it is. They aren’t exactly _professionals._ It takes them a while to figure things out, but once they get into the swing of writing, they all get pretty excited about it. 

It’s called “Lost and Losing” and somehow, despite being written by their lead guitarist, didn’t have a guitar solo until _after_ the rest of them had gotten their hands on it. It’s a bit of a slower pop-rock song and Tubbo really enjoys the bridge;

_When rivers dry_

_Leaving scars behind,_

_And when cities sink_

_Beneath waves and rage,_

_I’ll wander,_

_And I’ll wonder,_

_Are we out of time?_

They use The Multiplayers’ Twitter to contact an artist, commissioning them to make cover art for the song. Unfortunately, the only artists they really know of are ones who often make fanart for the Dream SMP, which means that a rumour starts that The Multiplayers are fans of the SMP. It’s not terrible, but they _would_ have liked for there to be absolutely _no_ connection between the band and the SMP. 

Fortunately, people who make Dream SMP fanart are _very_ good at what they do, and the cover art turns out _amazing._ (And, if, because of the rumours, their following grows a little bit, well, they aren’t complaining. There’s a reason they post their music to YouTube. They want to share it with people.)

...

The song gets really popular. The following they had from their covers only grows. “Lost and Losing” gets nine thousand views in its first week. That’s nothing compared to the numbers that they get as gaming youtubers and streamers but it’s pretty significant considering their band has only existed for a few months. 

Things are going well. Things are going _great_! People actually enjoy their music, whether it’s their original song or their covers. Tubbo loves reading the comments that talk about each of them individually. The ones that say _the guitar sounds extraordinary!_ The ones that say _the bass sounds so good!_ The ones that say _that person’s an amazing drummer, wow._ The ones that say _their voices sound great together!_

Because those comments mean that their band is actually doing something. It means that they aren’t just deluding themselves into thinking they’re good at music. 

And well, nice comments are just that: _nice_. 

So yeah, things are going well. And then Wilbur’s stream happens. 

...

Wilbur’s doing a Just Chatting stream. Tommy and Tubbo had already been Facetiming each other for hours when Wilbur had started his stream and Tommy wants to call Wilbur to bug him, which means that Tubbo’s going to join along for sure. 

“We’re doing media shares,” Wilbur explains to Tommy, Tubbo, and the chat. “But this won’t be a You Laugh, You Lose. This is just going to be a chill stream.”

“A chill stream?” Tubbo asks. “Bye Tommy.”

“Oi! Fuck off,” Tommy shouts. Wilbur lets out a fake long-suffering sigh. 

Things start off with a few funny videos. The three of them chat in between clips while Wilbur fucks around on the Origins smp. He said they could hop onto the server, too, but Tubbo’s already in bed and Tommy says it’s “too much work” to set up, or something like that. 

A huge slew of animatics come next, which Tubbo thoroughly enjoys. There are plenty of new ones that he hasn’t had the chance to see yet. Tommy ends up going off on a tangent about how cool animators are which makes Wilbur _aw_ at him. Tommy grumbles and Tubbo starts cackling-

-and then he’s not laughing anymore because _that’s our song playing. That’s “Lost and Losing”. Oh my god, what the hell?_

He focuses his attention back on Wilbur’s stream and _there it is_. Someone media-shared the _entire song_. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here are the songs mentioned in this chapter:
> 
> ["Weird!"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFgVMw2QHMU) by Yungblud 
> 
> [“Techno Show”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2LrGpHZ6wY) by Peach Pit - side note: When Wilbur mentioned Peach Pit during one of his streams, the first thing I thought of was that on their 2017 album "Being So Normal" there's a song called Techno Show and there's a song called Tommy's Party and like... Wilbur must have realized this. Right? 
> 
> ["Betty"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TAPqXkZW_I) by Taylor Swift - HOWEVER, the version of the song I imagined them doing is [this cover](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht1qGtiLWBc), by Vanadeen. 
> 
> ["Minutes Away"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3E1H_oB-Wk) by Jeremy Shada 
> 
> ["Shotgun"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_B3qkp4nO4) by George Ezra - HOWEVER, the version of the song I imagined them doing is [this cover](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPoyTCnPI0Q), by The Vamps - took this from Tubbo’s Spotify
> 
> ["Cabinet Man"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ_P3F3nA1U) by Lemon Demon - took this from Ranboo’s Spotify
> 
> ["Midnight Memories"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC9dZSzlzIk) by One Direction - the chapter title is from this song
> 
> (“Lost and Losing” is completely made up so the ‘bridge’ of that is just by me, Cal.)
> 
> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> -Cal


	2. Good Kid(s)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aah! Thank you for the amazing reception the first chapter got! I’m so happy that people like this! 
> 
> Here’s a reminder of their aliases and instruments just in case:
> 
> Tubbo = Player One: Keys/synth, lead vocals.  
> Ranboo = Player Two: Bass, backing vocals  
> Purpled = Player Three: Guitar, Rhythm Guitar  
> Tommy = Player Four: Drums, lead backing vocals
> 
> Important: the twitter handles and names associated witht them that I used in this chapter are all just random things I made up off the top of my head. I haven't checked to see if they actually exist and if they do those people aren't actually connected to this fic!
> 
> Anyway, here’s chapter two!
> 
> -Cal

Tubbo notices subconsciously that Tommy has also gone completely silent, but he’s too caught up in watching Wilbur. “Lost and Losing” by The Multiplayers is currently playing on Wilbur’s stream and Wilbur has  _ no idea  _ that two of the band’s members are currently in a call with him. 

“Oh wow,” Wilbur says. Through his headphones, Tubbo hears Tommy suck in a breath. It’s quiet enough that Wilbur probably hasn’t heard it. Tubbo knows exactly what Tommy’s feeling. Wilbur makes music too. Wilbur is  _ great  _ at making music. What he says next… what he says about their song, it’s important to both of them. “This is really good.”

Tubbo, thankfully, remembers to mute himself before letting out a breath. He slumps a little, the built-up tension in his body beginning to flow out. Running a hand down his face, he quickly unmutes himself again.

“Hold on,” Wilbur is saying. “What is this? I want to find them.”

One of Wilbur’s mods spams the link to The Multiplayers’ YouTube channel in the chat. Wilbur pulls the channel up on his stream, but he doesn’t start any of the videos yet. The media-shared song is still playing and it looks like Wilbur is really enjoying it. Tubbo can’t help the grin that spreads on his face. 

“Alright,” Wilbur says when the song ends, “I’m going to pause the media-shares for a second so I can listen to some of the other stuff The Multiplayers have done. It looks like that was their only original song but I really like their sound,” he smiles wide. “I love finding new music to listen to.”

He puts on their cover of “Betty” and the second it starts, his eyes go wide. “Wow,” he says, “ _ this _ has a different sound. It’s actually very good though, don’t you think?”

It’s then that Tubbo remembers he’s not just watching Wilbur’s stream. He and Tommy are still in a call with him. Oops. 

“Yeah,” Tubbo says, hoping it isn’t too obvious that his voice definitely just cracked. “They sound pretty good.”

“Is this a Taylor Swift song?” Tommy asks, trying and failing to sound incredulous. Instead, he sounds a bit like he’s choking. God, you’d think for two people who act in a Minecraft roleplay all the time, they’d be better at… acting. 

“You know,” Wilbur says, stopping “Betty” partway through and putting on “Shotgun” instead, “the lead singer sounds a bit like you Tubbo, don’t they?”

Tubbo’s eyes go wide. Oh no. They’re busted. Their secret is out. Now everybody’s going to know who The Multiplayers are and the band won’t know who actually likes their music and who’s just a fan because they were  _ already  _ a fan. This is it. 

“Ha! If Tubbo could actually properly sing!” Tommy jokes. A thank god Tommy managed to snap out of it. He’s always been a little better at improv than Tubbo. 

“Tommy…” Wilbur tries to scold. Tubbo just laughs. Finally, the last threads of tension leave his body. Everything’s okay. Their secret isn’t out. It looks like Wilbur is about to say something else, but he gets distracted by the screen. “Oh! They did a Peach Pit cover!” 

...

Their other original songs still need a little work, so they decide to do a few more covers in the meantime. After Wilbur’s stream, their fanbase grew a hell of a lot bigger. They pulled a bunch of Wilbur’s fans but also a lot of Tommy and Tubbo’s as well (while there is some overlap in their fanbases, Tommy’s is indisputably larger). 

So they do more covers. They can’t just leave thousands of people hanging, can they? 

Well, they probably can, but they’re a band made up of four people with YouTube and Twitch content creator mentalities. 

After their One Direction cover, they get several requests for even more One Direction. At first, they weren’t going to do any more, but people seem to really like “Midnight Memories” so Tubbo started listening to more of One Direction’s discography. It turns out, Ranboo did the same, because they each suggest a One Direction song for their next cover.

“Did you two coordinate this?” Tommy asks accusingly. “Are we turning into a boyband?”

“Aren’t we already a boyband?” Purpled asks.

“What?” Tommy all but shrieks. “We are  _ not! _ ” 

“I mean,” Ranboo shrugs (they’ve all got their cameras on. Ranboo doesn’t wear his mask, gloves and glasses for these calls anymore), “we  _ are  _ a band and we  _ are  _ all boys… Unless one of you isn’t! Which is totally cool, too.”

Nobody speaks up so Purpled sighs and says, “Anyway, what were those songs you suggested again?” 

Ranboo suggests “Home” because it sounds great and he likes the lyrics. 

Tubbo suggests “I Want” because he thinks the piano part, while fairly simple, will be really fun to play.

They end up just doing both, because why not?

The piano part in “I Want”  _ is  _ really fun to play, Tubbo discovers. He sings alone whenever only one member of One Direction is singing, but when they all sing together, Tommy and Ranboo join in. 

Doing more songs where he does a lot of backing vocals must be what leads Tommy to the day that he, out of the blue, says, “Guys, I’ve got a song I want to try,” then nervously, adds, “but I was wondering if I could sing it, perhaps?”

Their cover of “Good Kid” from The Lightning Thief musical does really well. Their fans freak out about it because the vocals sound different and in the credits, which they’ve recently started adding, “lead vocals” sits beside Player Four instead of Player One. 

...

**Maya Dean** | @M_ayaDean  
#askthemultiplayers How old are you?

> **The Multiplayers** | @TheMultiplayers  
>  Not very  
>  -P2

**Congrats it’s a demigod** | @Steph47  
#askthemultiplayers More musicals? 

> **The Multiplayers** | @TheMultiplayers  
>  Yes   
>  -P2
> 
> **The Multiplayers** | @TheMultiplayers  
>  Maybe -P4

**Probably a Fan** | @Tabitha_Riley   
#askthemultiplayers Ok but are you gonna reveal your faces at some point? How do we know you’re not robots?

> **The Multiplayers** | @TheMultiplayers  
>  IDK -P1
> 
> **Kath** | @WOOoo_  
>  #askthemultiplayers What does this mean???? 

**Nick Halden** | @NotCaffrey  
#askthemultiplayers Pronouns?

> **The Multiplayers** | @TheMultiplayers  
>  We all go by he/him, thank you for asking!   
>  -P2

**Yep** | @Hen118  
#askthemultiplayers You don’t have to answer if it makes you uncomfy but where are you from? P1 sounds like he’s from the UK but one of the background singers (not sure who) sounds American?

> **The Multiplayers** | @TheMultiplayers  
>  P1 and P4 are from the UK. P2 and I are American. We record everything separately and then P1 mixes it.
> 
> **Yep** | @Hen118  
>  Oh wow

...

They start getting fanart. Like,  _ actual The Multiplayers fanart _ . A lot of it is of instruments with fancy ‘Player’ labels to denote each member. Some artists take random multiplayer video games and design instruments in the art style the video games are in. 

There’s also some fanart that includes actual people. Artists try to imagine what each member of The Multiplayers looks like. They’re never accurate but Tubbo scrolls through them anyway. 

One thing that Tubbo notices because of the art is that they’ve accidentally used the colours associated with their  _ streamer  _ selves in the credits of their The Multiplayers videos. Player One is always in green font, Player Two is either in white or black font, depending on the background colour they chose for the credits, Player Three is always in purple, and of course, Player Four is in red. 

It’s not super obvious, considering they’re just a bunch of random colours to most people, but Tubbo does believe they should have probably thought that through a little more. It means that there’s a bunch of art circulating that involves green-themed keyboards, black and white bass guitars, purple guitars, and red-themed drums. 

Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like anybody has put two and two together yet. Tubbo is grateful that Tommy managed to stop any rumours of Tubbo sounding like Player One before they could start. He still can’t quite believe that Wilbur even picked up one that. Then again, Wilbur  _ has  _ heard Tubbo sing before.

...

They release Tommy’s original song next. It’s another pop-rock song, but more fast-paced than “Lost and Losing”, called “Masked”. 

“And no,” Tommy had clarified when he’d first shown it do them, “it’s not inspired by Dream. Fuck off.”

It’s a song with a lot of storytelling, which is why Tubbo suspects that Tommy was influenced by Wilbur’s music, at least a little. When he brings it up while they’re rehearsing one day, Tommy loudly explains that “No, Wilbur was influenced by  _ me _ !” Which basically means, “Yes, obviously,” in Tommy-speak. 

The story, on the surface, is about a girl running away from someone trying to  _ murder  _ her. She’s trying to find the love of her life, hoping he’ll help keep her safe, only to discover that the person trying to kill her  _ is  _ her lover. In the end, she doesn’t need anybody to save her. She can save herself, dammit. 

So yeah, on the surface, it seems a bit basic, but it turns out that Tommy is a really great storyteller. And, he’s surprisingly good at  _ metaphors _ . The whole song’s a damned metaphor. 

That being said, it does take them a while to get the music just right. Not only because writing music can be difficult (none of them are what you’d call experienced) but also due to the several different time zones they’re all in. Figuring out when the best time for everyone is can be difficult, especially because they have to factor in the fact that all of them stream and make videos. And that’s not even mentioning school. 

When they  _ do  _ finish writing “Masked”, there’s a heavy and somewhat complicated bassline during the verses (like, “Another One Bites the Dust” level of  _ heavy _ ) while the choruses end up being more soft-rock; light and airy sounding, but to the point that it seems unsettling. 

Tubbo thinks the best part of the song starts at verse three (there are five verses and no bridge). He likes it because Tommy’s drumming sets the scene for you, immersing you in it. 

_ His footfalls are approaching _

_ While the shadows are encroaching _

_ On her, poaching _

_ Any confidence _

_ She once had within.  _

_ And his mask falls. _

_ And her heart stalls. _

And then Tommy’s drum solo kicks in. 

...

They put “Lost and Losing” and “Masked” on Spotify (once they figure out how). Masked also gets its own cover art, from a new artist this time. They actually chose one from The Multiplayers’ following and everything! Both songs immediately get tons of streams. It’s pretty cool that they’re being noticed, Tubbo thinks.

It’s also sort of terrifying. Tubbo  _ likes  _ that they’re a faceless band. He likes that “Tubbo” isn’t connected to The Multiplayers. Knowing that he can hide behind Player One - knowing that nobody knows who Player One is - makes Tubbo more confident in his singing. In his musical abilities. He knows the others feel the same. 

...

Tubbo’s doing his homework with Philza’s stream pulled up in the background one evening. Phil’s on his hardcore world, working on his latest project. Tubbo likes watching his friends’ streams and they definitely tend to make homework a little bit more bearable. 

About halfway through the stream, Wilbur and Tommy turn up to chat with Phil and generally be obnoxious, as they often do. He knows that the three of them were filming one of Tommy’s mod videos with some others earlier. 

Tubbo finishes the last question on his worksheet and begins to gather up his papers. He’s sort of scattered his work all over his desk. As he sets about his task, Tubbo starts humming along to the song that Phil has playing in the background of his stream. It’s when the song gets to the first chorus that it hits him.

The song playing is “Good Kid”.

Sung by Player Four. 

Holy shit. 

Philza Minecraft has listened to The Multiplayers?

Tubbo’s head snaps up to look back at the screen. 

“Oh! Phil,” Wilbur says, excited, “you listened to them!”

“I did,” Phil says, bobbing his head along to the song. “By the way, Chat, Wilbur is talking about the song that’s playing. It’s a cover by this band called- um...”

“The Multiplayers,” Tommy stammers. Neither Phil nor Wilbur seem to notice that Tommy most definitely sounds panicked. The song playing  _ is  _ the one he sang alone, after all. 

“Right,” Phil continues. “The Multiplayers. Wilbur told me to check them out. They’re very good.”

“They are,” Wilbur agrees. “And they’ve got two original songs as well. I quite like both of them, truthfully.”

Oh wow. Wilbur genuinely likes their music. Phil too, if he added one of their covers to his streaming playlist. 

“Tommy?” Phil probes after a moment. Tommy has been fairly quiet since the song started, which is very unlike him. Tubbo can tell that Phil’s a little worried about him, though he probably just thinks Tommy is tired. 

“Hm?”

“Have you listened to them yet?”

“Yep,” Tommy pops the ‘p’. “First heard them on Wilbur’s stream, actually. They’re alright.”

_ They’re alright _ . 

Well, okay then, Tommy. 

“They, uh,” Tommy continues.  _ No! _ Tubbo thinks.  _ Stop! Before you dig yourself into a hole! Don’t you remember the lesbianinnit incident? “Let’s think about this one”??? Tommy!  _ “Good bass.”

Tubbo bursts out laughing. 

...

Later that same night, Tubbo gets a message from Karl Jacobs on Discord. Tubbo is tired and he isn’t thinking straight, which is why, without really thinking about it, Tubbo agrees to join Karl’s karaoke stream tomorrow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New Songs Mentioned This Chapter:
> 
> [“Home”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpWY4ck6yr4) by One Direction - thank you milkyumiitea for reminding me of this song
> 
> [“I Want”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh9NGs-W5bk) by One Direction - Yes, for the One Direction fans out there, The Multiplayers did in fact change the line “different date every night” to “different dick every night” when they recorded the song.
> 
> [“Good Kid”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV1lpw8cUsg) from The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical - this musical is a masterpiece. (Chapter title inspired by this song)
> 
> (“Masked” is another made up song. The verse from that is written by me. Can you tell I can’t write songs yet?)
> 
> I feel like this chapter was a little bit slow but don’t worry, things start to pick up in chapter three! 
> 
> -Cal


	3. Makeup Wipes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I meant to have this chapter out yesterday but it wasn’t agreeing with me. I ended up changing it a lot from what I was originally planning for the chapter but I think it works way better than it would’ve if I hadn’t changed it. 
> 
> Sorry for the constant cliffhangers, by the way! Also, my only beta is grammarly so if you see anything please let me know!
> 
> -Cal

“I’ve fucked up,” Tubbo tells his bandmates. 

“What do you mean?” Purpled asks. “Are you okay?”

“I agreed to do Karl’s karaoke stream tonight,” Tubbo honestly can’t believe he did that. “And I would feel terrible if I backed out.”

“What’s wrong with Karl’s karaoke stream?” Ranboo asks, confused. 

“It’s strange, innit?” Tommy says. “That our good friend Tubbo sounds a lot like the lead singer from that one band. What was it? The Multiplayers. Yeh, Tubbo sure does sound like Player One, doesn’t he?”

“Oh shit,” Purpled says. On screen, Tubbo sees Ranboo go pale. “Yeah. Didn’t Wilbur already mention once that you sounded like… yourself?”

“He did,” Tubbo groans, dropping his head dramatically into his hands.

“Is Wilbur going to be part of the karaoke stream, too?” Purpled questions.

“I think so,” Tubbo says. “With Sapnap and Dream and George. Probably a few others.”

“Well, fuck,” Tommy says.

“I mean, you could just cancel,” Purpled points out.

“But I’ve already agreed!” Tubbo laments. The stream is going to be starting soon, too. He’d sort of forgotten about it entirely until he’d gotten a message from Karl reminding him of when he would be starting the stream.

“Uh, yeah. Guys?” Ranboo bites his lip. Tubbo notices for the first time that Ranboo hasn’t been part of this conversation save for his initial question. “We may have a problem.”

“ _Another one_?” Tubbo throws his hands into the air.

Ranboo rubs the back of his neck. “Heh, uh. I may or may not have also agreed to do the karaoke stream?” 

...

Tubbo tells Karl he’s feeling ill. Ranboo, however, joins the stream. They were worried about it being suspicious if they _both_ cancelled on Karl. Thankfully, Ranboo isn’t the _lead singer_ of a band currently growing substantially in popularity. While he _does_ sing on their tracks, his voice will, hopefully, not be quite as recognizable as Tubbo’s. So there, problem solved.

“That’s alright,” Karl had told Tubbo when he’d broken the news. “Get well soon! You can be part of my next karaoke stream.”

“Right, yes. I will absolutely be there next time,” okay so maybe their problems aren’t actually solved. Oops. Listen, Tubbo panicked. He doesn’t want to be mean and say _no_. He already feels bad enough about cancelling _this_ time.

But he tells Karl he’s ill and then pulls the stream up a few minutes later so he can watch it. He uses an alt account, one that nobody knows of. 

Wilbur _is_ there, as well as the Dream Team, Bad, Quackity, and of course, Ranboo. Karl has already gone through the usual ritual of welcoming chat and now he, Quackity, and Sapnap are singing a song that Tubbo hasn’t heard before. 

Tubbo sets about editing the new episode for The Let’s Play Channel while keeping an ear on the stream. It’s about a half-hour in when Tubbo hears someone mention The Multiplayers. He focuses back on the stream only to find that _Dream_ was the one who mentioned the band. _Dream?_ God, their following is going to grow even more now, and it’s going to be harder and harder to keep their identities secret. 

“-heard of them?” the man is saying. Everybody in the call, as it turns out, has heard of The Multiplayers. What the fuck? Have The Multiplayers become some sort of _thing_ within the Minecraft YouTuber community? 

“Let’s do both of their songs!” Karl says, clapping his hands together in excitement. 

“I learned them both on guitar, actually,” Wilbur tells them. 

“Oh, Wilbur, you can play them for us while we sing!” Bad says.

“Wait really?” Ranboo chokes. “We’re singing The Multiplayers?”

“Yeah, man, they’re good,” Quackity says.

“Uh, right.”

Tubbo’s Discord pings with two messages from Ranboo.

 **Ranboo  
** HELP  
Are you watching the stream?

 **Tubbo  
** Yes  
Idk how ot help tho  
Say you have strep throat

 **Ranboo  
** Wtf  
That’s not helpful  
I was just singing  
What do i do??????

 **Tubbo  
** You got this big man!!  
;)

 **Ranboo  
** TUBBO

Wilbur starts playing “Masked” first. It sounds much different, considering he’s only using an acoustic guitar, but it’s kind of crazy that Wilbur even learned how to play it in the first place. 

Everybody launches into song at once. With everyone singing, and not everyone hitting the proper notes, it sounds… not the best. Thankfully, it masks Ranboo’s voice quite a bit. Tubbo also notices that Ranboo is only actually singing the parts of the song that he _doesn’t_ sing backing vocals for in their recording. That’s smart-thinking on Ranboo’s part. People probably won’t even realize he sounds a lot like Player Two. People won’t even think to wonder about it. 

They finish the song with… flair. They’re all laughing, though, including Ranboo (thank god). They’re clearly having a lot of fun. It continues into their rendition of “Lost and Losing”. 

Overall, Tubbo thinks the karaoke stream goes really well. And yes, even when George joked, “Wow, Ranboo. You’re really popping off. You should be a singer,” and Tubbo just _knows_ that Ranboo didn’t know whether to panic or to laugh. 

Now all Tubbo has to do is make sure that the next karaoke stream he accidentally agreed to goes just as well. 

...

Nobody knows that Tubbo is in a band except for, well, _the band_. 

And his family. 

And his bandmates’ families, too, but that’s not what’s important right now.

What _is_ important is the fact that one of his sisters just asked him to cover a song. It’s a good song, but it might take some work because Tubbo knows for a _fact_ that even if they mess with keys and octaves, he doesn’t have the vocal range that the original band has. They’ll have to adjust some things, but when Tubbo brings it up with the others they’re all on board. Tommy does make some jokes about Tubbo being wrapped around his sister’s finger, though. 

“Told You So” gets uploaded to The Multiplayers’ YouTube channel and it quickly becomes one of their most popular covers. 

_4971 Comments_

**Lara Claren  
** Didn’t know I needed a Little Mix cover by The Multiplayers until today omg

 **BassBoy9  
** Wow, piano in this song sounds so good! 

> **Maia Q  
> ** I agree! I’m glad they added it! 

**Salted Chocolate Chip  
** Oh i feel like i’m being given a warm hug when I listen to this! Thank you for introducing me to Little Mix btw

 **Ph1LzA ✓  
** Great cover!

While it’s one of their most popular, the Little Mix cover is also the first time they get an abundance of hate. Sure, people have left mean comments before, but it’s not until they cover a song by a girl group that things turn particularly nasty. The only other time they got comments that that was under their Taylor Swift cover. Apparently, boys aren’t allowed to enjoy music sung by girls? It’s stupid, Tubbo thinks. Thankfully, all of the sexist and homophobic comments get buried under positive ones. 

...

“You guys are never going to believe what I have to show you,” Purpled says one day. Tubbo has just finished streaming and now they’re all going to work a little more on Ranboo’s original song. It’s looking like the song is going to involve a lot more synth than the other originals they’ve made so the four of them have been testing out sounds recently. 

“Uh… what is it?” Ranboo asks tentatively. In their Discord call, Purpled starts screen sharing. His web browser is opened to YouTube with a video called “Good Kid - Dream SMP Animatic” pulled up and ready to be played. Tubbo watches as Purpled full-screens the video and hits play. 

The animatic is good, but Tubbo knows that’s not the only reason that Purpled is showing them this. The focus of the animatic is dsmp!Tommy, at the beginning of the exile arc, singing “Good Kid”. But the artist didn’t use the original cast recording of the song. They used _The Multiplayers’_ version. 

“Oh, holy shit,” Tommy says, awed. 

“Woah!” Ranboo exclaims. 

“This is so cool,” Tubbo watches intently. It’s an emotional animatic and he gets sucked right into the story. It probably helps that it’s actually Tommy singing, so his drawn character sounds just like-

-Oh. 

This explains the random upsurge in “Tommy is Player Four” rumours that Tubbo has been seeing recently. Is Tommy’s secret identity in jeopardy? Or will people (hopefully) continue to think it’s just a funny rumour or an ‘ _i_ _t would be pretty cool if’_? No matter how hard they tried, there were still some comments after the karaoke stream about Ranboo sounding like Player Two. At this point, the only person people _don’t_ suspect is Purpled, and that’s only because he doesn’t sing. 

“Oh wow,” Tommy says when the animatic has ended. “I’m sending that to Wilbur.” 

“Wait!” Tubbo says. “Don’t.”

“What? Why?” 

“Tubbo’s right,” Purpled says. “Wilbur knows you. Your voice, paired with an animatic of you? It would be-”

“Really obvious,” Ranboo finishes.

Tommy sighs, “Damn.”

Of all of them, Purpled was probably the one who would’ve cared the least if they’d decided _not_ to be a faceless band. Ranboo, of course, was the strongest advocate for keeping their identities secret, and while it may have seemed like Tubbo was the second-most fervent supporter of the idea, that role belongs to TommyInnit.

Tommy likes to make jokes about getting subs and follows and views and, like, recognition or whatever, but Tubbo _knows_ him. Tommy hasn’t explicitly said it before, but Tubbo knows that Tommy’s a little bit scared of everybody finding out he’s part of The Multiplayers. In fact, Tommy might actually be a little bit embarrassed. Not of the band! And not of their songs, either! But his singing, his playing, those are things that can be picked apart and used to target Tommy specifically. And _that_ is what’s absolutely terrifying.

Tubbo understands. He feels the same way sometimes. 

...

They start getting crossover fanart. Tubbo is almost always drawn as Player One, which, _thanks a lot, Wilbur_. Tommy is often drawn as Player Four, rocking out on his drums and generally having the time of his life. Player Two and Player Three seem to fluctuate the most. Now that people headcanon Tubbo and Tommy in a band, they just chose random Dream SMP members to fill the other roles. 

Ranboo is Player Two a lot. That headcanon is, of course, attributed to the karaoke stream. Player Two is also sometimes Jack, because Jack can sing, and Eret, because of their deep voice. Player Three can be pretty much anyone, or so it seems artists think, since they don’t ever actually sing. Niki gets drawn as Player Three a lot, as well as Quackity, Dream, and Puffy. And Wilbur? Wilbur is sometimes drawn as Player Two, but more often than not, he’s Player Three. 

“Does it ever bother you that nobody even suspects you?” Ranboo asks Purpled one day. There _are_ a few people that suspect him, based mostly off of their colour-coded credits, but not enough for there to be fanart. 

“Not really,” Purpled says. The three of them are just waiting for Tommy to end his stream and join the call so they can practice Ranboo’s original song. They’re recording it tomorrow. “There’s a reason we went faceless, isn’t there? So people _wouldn’t_ suspect us? And anyway, I’m being compared to Wilbur.”

Tubbo laughs, “high praise!”

“Exactly,” Purpled chuckles. “Now look at this one.”

The fanart that Purpled has sent is SBI as The Multiplayers. Phil is Player One, Techno is Player Two, Wilbur is Player Three, and Tommy is, obviously, Player Four.

“Nice, I saw that one,” Ranboo says. “Have you seen this one?”

The art Ranboo found has Dream as Player One, Bad as Player Two, George as Player Three, and Sapnap as Player Four. 

“What the fuck is this?” Tommy has joined the call, it would seem. Ranboo bursts out laughing.

“Hey Tommy,” Tubbo greets his friend.

“Tubso.” 

“Alright, are we ready to practice the song?” Purpled asks, grabbing his guitar from off-camera. 

“Um, actually,” Tommy says. “I think you boys should go watch my VOD.”

“ _T_ _ommy_ ,” Ranboo teases.

“No, seriously. Just- just near the end,” Okay… Tommy sounds nervous. That’s never good.

“Did something happen?” Tubbo questions. He’s suddenly _very_ worried. 

“Uh, yeh,” Tommy says, looking directly into his camera. “Technoblade happened.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New Songs Mentioned This Chapter:
> 
> [“Told You So”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvUeqRmUO9Q) by Little Mix - chapter title from this song
> 
> THE GOOD KID ANIMATIC IS REAL: [Good Kid || Dream SMP || Animatic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khh-wCbBiqc) by Rozu Gold 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Chapter Four will be out soon and yes, you will finally get Tubbo karaoke content!
> 
> -Cal


	4. All The Focus On Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes:  
> Oh wow I am so sorry for worrying everyone with Technoblade last chapter! Here’s chapter four, enjoy!
> 
> (note: any names/twitter handles are completely made up. if they are similar/the same as someone's real name or twitter handle, it is just a coincidence and accident! That being said there may be a reference here or there to fictional people.) 
> 
> -Cal

“Okay, it’s really not as bad as you implied it would be,” Ranboo says when Tommy pauses the VOD.

“What do you mean?” Tommy gasps, voice raised enough that Tubbo turns down his volume a little bit. “Ranboo this is… this is-”

“Fucking hilarious!” Purpled doubles over laughing, disappearing from view almost entirely. 

Tommy gasps again, more dramatically this time. “I feel so _betrayed_. How do you not see how _awful_ this is?” he whines. 

“I mean, it’s not like your cover is blown,” Tubbo points out, trying not to laugh. “You just-”

“I just got _my own song_ explained to me by _Technoblade_ , Tubbo!” he groans, running his hands through his hair and thoroughly messing it up. “Seriously, what the fuck? And I had to act normal!”

The stream had been another SBI Terraria stream. Near the end, Wilbur had given up on actually playing and had busted out his guitar. That led to Phil mentioning how Wilbur had learnt both of The Multiplayers’ songs for Karl’s karaoke stream. 

“Did you listen to The Multiplayers like I told you to, Technoblade?” Wilbur had asked. 

Technoblade hummed. “I was surprised at how good their songs are lyrically.”

“Really?” Tommy had asked. To anyone else, it would seem like Tommy had simply been curious, but his bandmates knew he was rather thrilled to have someone say that. 

“Yes. Like “Masked” is-”

“Ah yes,” Tommy interrupted then, and this was the moment that made Tubbo facepalm; “ _Murder_.” 

_Like, seriously, Tommy. You wrote that. It’s your song._

“Eh- it’s more than that,” Technoblade had said. From there, Techno and Wilbur got into a long conversation about the metaphors and storytelling in “Masked”. They also spoke about “Lost and Losing” but that’s clearly not what Tommy is currently focused on. 

“You know what I mean?” Techno had ended with. Wilbur had responded, same with Phil, but when Tommy didn’t, Techno prompted, “Tommy? Get it?”

And Tommy, having been panicking for the last ten minutes because of that entire conversation and having thus missed the conversation entirely, had blurted, “Right, yes. Very- very metaphorical,” like an idiot. 

And now Tommy had terrified all of them into thinking there was a full-blown crisis, when in reality, “You barely even embarrassed yourself, big man.”

“Tubbo! That was the longest ten-odd minutes of my life! That was- that was- _Technoblade_ , he-”

“He went all _English major_ on you, man,” Ranboo cackles. 

...

They did eventually get around to practicing Ranboo’s original song that night. Now, a couple days later, Tubbo is sitting at his desk in a call with the others, preparing to upload it. They had intended to upload it two days ago but the artist they had commissioned to make the cover image needed a little bit more time. It was well worth it, though. The cover looks amazing! 

The song is really amazing, too. It’s a full-on pop song, which Tubbo is still sort of surprised came from Ranboo. This kind of pop is something Tubbo listens to more than anyone else in the band, except maybe Purpled. But, “False Niceties” is a pop song. 

Instrumentally, it’s heaviest on the guitar and synth, though it does have an intro and an outro solely played on the piano. Tommy’s drums help keep the rhythm in a way that makes the song very obviously pop: it’s easy to dance to. And, despite having been written by their bassist, the bass isn’t all that prominent, not like it is in “Masked”, at least. The bass part _is_ rather complicated, though, according to Ranboo.

Tubbo figures most people would classify “False Niceties” as a ‘bop’, and it is, but it’s also got _layers_. He supposes it could be an _angry bop_. It sounds upbeat, especially for what’s basically a breakup song. Still, the song exposes some of Ranboo’s insecurities. The chorus, especially, highlights that.

_Are you content_

_Within this knockoff love?_

_Built on inconsistencies,_

_On false niceties_

_that you gave me?_

_Are you lying_

_when you tell me_

_That you want to know_

_The real me?_

_Or is that just another_

_False nicety?_

It’s not just about a romantic relationship that feels fake, it’s about any relationship that feels fake. Even more, it’s about not actually knowing whether a relationship is real. Not being able to tell. 

“Are you sure you want to share this one, Ranboo?” Tommy asks out of the blue. 

“Yeah? Why wouldn’t I be?” Ranboo questions, genuinely confused. 

Purpled sits forward in his chair, “Well, it’s a very personal song.”

“I just-” Tommy runs a hand through his hair, “I just want to make sure you’re… comfortable with putting that out there.”

“It’s not like people are going to know that I wrote it,” Ranboo says. The silence that falls is solemn, nearly suffocating. 

“It-” Tubbo takes a deep breath then quietly queries, “We all know it won’t last forever. The secrecy, I mean. Right? Someday-”

“Yeah,” Ranboo says. “I know.”

...

**New Band ‘The Multiplayers’ Randomly Growing In Popularity Amongst the Minecraft YouTube Community  
** _'The Multiplayers’, originally a cover band, have become popular amongst Minecraft YouTubers, especially those within the Dream SMP community.  
_ by Claire Han  
Read more 

**Check Out ‘The Multiplayers’ on YouTube: The New Band That Hides Their Faces  
** _Beginning as a cover band, ‘The Multiplayers’ now have three original songs and a massive following that just keeps on growing - and it’s totally deserved.  
_ by Evan Diaz  
Read more 

**Players One Through Four: ‘The Multiplayers’ Band Gets Big on YouTube and TikTok  
** _A new band called ‘The Multiplayers’ has wooed their audience with amazing vocals, guitar, bass, drums, and keys/synth.  
_ by Jamie Gonzalez  
Read more 

**Why Are ‘The Multiplayers’ So Popular?: A Look Into the Popularity of Secret Identities  
** _From Daft Punk to Pussy Riot, and from Dream to Corpse, keeping their identities secret has been important for artists and content creators for a variety of reasons. Why is it that they do it and who is the new faceless band currently gaining traction?  
_ by Lexa Green  
Read more 

**Who Are The Multiplayers?  
** _Everything the internet knows about ‘The Multiplayers’ in one list.  
_ by Todd Willison   
Read more

...

“Tubbo! Glad you could make it this time!” Karl says. 

“Hi Karl, hi chat,” Tubbo replies enthusiastically. Or, as enthusiastically as he can considering he’s terrified. Why he agreed to do another karaoke stream is beyond him. 

Some of the others in the call greet Tubbo while they wait for everybody else to show up. Dream, Sapnap and Quackity are already there and a minute or so later, Bad and Wilbur show up. That’s apparently everyone for tonight, so they get right into it. 

Tubbo manages to avoid singing for the first twenty minutes of the stream, letting the others go through their song choices. But then Wilbur asks Tubbo if he wants to do a Hamilton song, like they had in a previous karaoke stream, and Tubbo figures, why not? The style of songs found in Hamilton are different from the types of songs The Multiplayers do. It’ll be fine.

And it _is_ fine. It goes surprisingly well. Nobody even _mentions_ the Multiplayers (Tubbo has the stream pulled up on his other monitor so he can watch the chat). 

“Hey Wilbur,” Karl says when the song ends, “have you learned “False Niceties” yet?”

“On the guitar? Almost. I could probably figure it out now.”

Oh no. Seriously? The Multiplayers really _have_ become a thing in the mcyt community. How did this even happen? _Wilbur_. Well, Wilbur’s media share. 

Thinking about it, though, Tubbo has no idea how the Dream Team found The Multiplayers. And how did Karl find them? Quackity? He heard Puffy talking about them too. And Eret. Fuck, even non-dsmp Minecraft YouTubers have mentioned the Multiplayers! 

“Let’s do it!” Quackity exclaims. 

Tubbo has about five seconds to decide what to do. He has two options. He can sing, which would risk revealing his secret identity as Player One. _Or_ , he could not sing, which would be just as incriminating. He would be so obviously avoiding it, plus his friends would get suspicious or worried, which might bring even _more_ attention to the fact that he wasn’t singing. 

He goes with option three: singing, but doing an absolute _shit_ job of it. 

He sings half-heartedly at best and pushes away from his desk a little so that his mic has a harder time picking him up. It seems to work. Mostly. Wilbur, when they’ve finished the song, still says, “Tubbo, you really do sound like Player One.” 

That fucker.

“You’re right, he does,” Dream says. Tubbo tenses, biting his lip. Could his friends just shut up for a second? 

“Awe, thank you,” Tubbo says, trying to play it off. 

“And you play piano, too, right?” Sapnap asks. Goddammit. 

Laughing nervously, Tubbo confirms that yes, he does play the piano. “But I’ve no idea how to use a synth, much less how to _write music_ ,” he lies. Thankfully, the others drop it. They move on, with Karl and Quackity singing some Taylor Swift song from like, 2013 or something. 

And things are fine. Tubbo chills, fading into the background of the stream a little bit. **_Tubbo Player One_ **trends on Twitter for an hour, though. 

After the stream, Sapnap messages him, which is kind of unexpected.

**Sapnap  
** Hey man  
You good?  
You were kind of quiet when we did false niceties  
And after that too

**Tubbo  
** I’m fine!  
Just tired!

**Sapnap  
** You sure?

**Tubbo  
** Yeah!  
I just  
Don’t like the multiplayers that much  
They’re okay  
but

Well, now Tubbo is digging a hole for himself. God, he’s as bad as Tommy. 

**Sapnap  
** You don’t like the mutliplaeyrs???   
Tubbo  
Bro

**Tubbo  
** I don’t disliek them  
I just don’t  
Like  
Them  
U know?

**Sapnap  
** I guess  
As long as ur doing okay

**Tubbo  
** Never been better

...

Having now released Ranboo’s song, The Multiplayers only have Tubbo’s original song to put out. It still needs work so they do some more covers. 

The first cover is one that people have been requesting a lot; “Now or Never” from the Netflix show _Julie and the Phantoms_. The request is probably so popular because it’s performed by the band _Sunset Curve_ in the show, which is a group of four boys. 

Before they do “Now or Never” though, they play a little trick on their audience. They tell everyone that they’ll be doing a _Julie and the Phantoms_ cover, and while everyone expects “Now or Never” they, instead, perform “All Eyes on Me”, the chorus of which goes: 

_I keep the party going all night, all night_

_I set the trends that you all like, all like_

_I make an entrance when I don't try, don't try_

_'Cause all I see is all eyes on me_

_I only lead, I never follow, follow_

_I never open 'cause it's my show, my show_

_Don't know if people think I'm shallow, shallow_

_But all I see is all eyes on me_

They do it because it’s _hilarious_. None of them had watched _Julie and the Phantoms_ before, so none of them had known any of the songs. After people kept requesting “Now or Never” they’d all gone and watched the show (the episodes aren’t that long, it’s bingeable). After hearing “All Eyes on Me”, Purpled had messaged their group chat.

**Purpled  
** Guys.  
We have to do All Eyes on Me  
Please

**Tommy  
** Wtf  
why??

**Purpled  
** We’re a faceless band  
There are no eyes on us  
None  
It’ll be funny

**Tubbo  
** Ahahahaha  
Let’s do it

They do release “Now or Never” two days later, but it’s hilarious to see the reactions they get from “All Eyes on Me”. 

...

**Nick Halden** | @NotCaffrey  
Okay but can people be more respectful of _@TheMultiplayers_ privacy maybe? There’s probably a good reason they don’t want to show their faces...

> **PreSerum Steve** | @N_Leeds  
> Seconding this! Also has everyone forgotten the ‘not very [old]’ tweet? Stop making gross comments please?

**Clark** | @NopeGoAway  
All you @TheMultiplayers fans are stupid. How do you know they’re good people?? You have no idea what they look like, you don’t know anything about them other than they make okay music.

> **Tara** | @Tara_K  
> There are other artists out there that we don’t know a lot about… 
> 
> **I guess** | @LoveTheMultiplayers  
> How do you know they’re /not/ good? Your argument can be made both ways motherfucker
> 
> **Kath** | @WOOoo_  
> Their music is better than ‘okay’ 

**Yep** | @Hen118  
I love mcyt as much as the next person but maybe we should stop comparing The Multiplayers to Tommy and Tubbo and everyone

> **Yep** | @Hen118  
> I mean, the art is cool but it’s just for fun. We shouldn’t take the conspiracies seriously. I don’t mind making headcanons and art and stories but don’t harass The Multiplayers and all of the content creators about it, you know? 
> 
> **Yep** | @Hen118  
> And if the mcyts actually are The Multiplayers then they shouldn’t feel pressured to reveal their secret identities.
> 
> **Yep** | @Hen118  
> And if they aren’t, then it seems a bit disrespectful to The Multiplayers to only like them because you’re assuming they’re some random minecraft youtuber you like. 

**TommyInnit** | @tommyinnit  
Why do people keep asking me about drums?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Endnotes:  
> New Songs Mentioned This Chapter:  
> (for these I’ll give links to the official audio and to the performances from the TV show)
> 
> “Now or Never” from Julie and the Phantoms, featuring Charlie Gillespie, Owen Joyner, and Jeremy Shada:  
> [Version From the TV Show](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6bFYaVXMiY) \- Tubbo would be Luke (lead singer with the sleeveless shirt) but minus the guitar, Ranboo would be Reggie (bassist on the left with the leather jacket), Purpled would be Bobby (leather vest? on the right, rhythm guitar), and Tommy would be Alex (drummer in the back).  
> [Official Audio Version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FujKzzSlVWk)
> 
> “All Eyes On Me” from Julie and the Phantoms, featuring Savannah Lee May - chapter title based off of this song  
> [Version From the TV Show](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnGinyIMAUc) (shorter than the official audio but fun to watch)  
> [Official Audio Version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nthLFG9V0IA)
> 
> (“False Niceties” is another CalistaWon original and it is not my best.)
> 
> The whole ‘secret identity’ thing is drawing attention to The Multiplayers. And things are getting a little heated on Twitter… 
> 
> -Cal


	5. Got My Band and a Light That Won’t Go Out: An Interlude in Three Parts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my goodness. Thank you all for reading this and thank you for the kind words I’ve been receiving. Seriously, thank you.
> 
> So first I should say that this chapter is much shorter than the other chapters in this story and that is on purpose. Chapter 6 will go back to being the usual chapter length. 
> 
> I’d also like to direct you to Chinnii’s Twitter (@/Katilieen). They made some amazing art for this fic! You can find it in [this thread!](https://twitter.com/Katilieen/status/1371670880493912066)
> 
> -Cal

**Got My Band and a Light That Won’t Go Out: An Interlude in Three Parts**

**The Dream Team Interlude:**

Okay so Sapnap is sort of worried about the kid. ‘The kid’ being Tubbo. It started during the karaoke stream. Tubbo had gone all quiet after they’d started singing “False Niceties”. But now, looking back, Sapnap knows that something has been up for a long time.

First of all, Tubbo doesn’t stream nearly as often as he used to. Seriously, there was a point when Tubbo would stream pretty much _every_ _day_. And he’d go on other people’s streams after his own! Now, he misses a day here and there with no explanation. 

Tubbo also seems to be more tired than usual. Sapnap doesn’t always manage to catch the kid’s streams live, but Twitter is usually filled with screenshots and clips afterwards and _damn_. That kid is often sporting some serious bags under his eyes. 

And then there’s The Multiplayers drama. Okay, it’s probably stretching it to call it drama. People are sort of just going around assuming that Tubbo, and Tommy and Ranboo, are in a band together. Sapnap actually thought it was funny and kind of cool. And the art is great, too. 

But then Tubbo told Sapnap that he doesn’t really like The Multiplayers all that much and well… Sapnap can guess what that means. Tubbo is sick of constantly getting harassed about a band that he doesn’t actually have any connection to. 

And now Sapnap has brought it up with the _worst_ tact. On George’s stream. Because Sapnap is an idiot who is currently kicking himself to the fucking moon. 

“What? Tubbo doesn’t like The Multiplayers?” Dream gasps, because _of course_ Dream is here too. George is currently speedrunning alone with Dream and Sapnap on call with him. “They make the _exact_ kind of music that he and Tommy like.” 

“Oh no no no no!” George screeches as a ghast nearly fireballs him into lava. Meanwhile, chat is going wild with the news that Tubbo doesn’t like The Multiplayers, which Sapnap really didn’t mean to let slip in front of thousands of people. It looks like a lot of people feel betrayed, which is kind of dumb because Tubbo isn’t _actually_ Player One. 

“Yeah,” Sapnap says. “He’s allowed to have his own opinions.”

Dream must catch on to the fact that Sapnap is trying to change the subject because he immediately starts teasing George for taking so long to get blaze rods. 

**Green Cat** | @wotlen   
@TubboLive doesn’t like @TheMultiplayers ????? What is this???? WHY?

> **Kath** | @WOOoo_  
> I’m honestly kind of not surprised? If you watch some of his recent streams he goes all quiet whenever donos ask him about being part of the band. I think he’s sick of people always asking about it.

**Yep** | @Hen118  
Leave @TubboLive alone. He’s allowed to not like things

**The Multiplayers** | @TheMultiplayers  
Love you, too @TubboLive -P1 

> **Congrats it’s a demigod** | @Steph47  
> oh my god

...

**The Sleepy Bois Interlude:**

Is Wilbur maybe a little bit worried about Tommy? No. He’s definitely quite a lot worried about Tommy. 

“You’re not the only one,” Phil tells him. They’re in a call together, with Techno as well, none of them streaming. Wilbur has The Multiplayers’ latest cover, “Grow Up” by Paramore, playing in the background. It’s a damn good cover. 

Techno hums. “Yeah, he’s been acting weird lately.” 

Weird is an understatement. Tommy has definitely fucked up his sleep schedule again. He’s also been really busy lately, which is strange considering Wilbur knows when Tommy streams and he knows when Tommy is filming a video because Wilbur is always there to film it with him. And while college might keep Tommy a little busy, it’s never been _this_ bad. 

All of which is to say; Tommy is hiding something. And okay, fine, maybe Wilbur should give him his privacy, but he’s _worried_. He feels like Tommy has been pulling away from him. Did Wilbur overstep somehow? Too many ‘brothers’ jokes? No, Tommy makes those jokes too. So what is it?

“I noticed he’s been spending a lot more time with Ranboo, Tubbo, and Purpled,” Phil says. 

“That doesn’t seem abnormal,” Techno points out.

“No, I mean all four of them together,” Phil explains. “Tommy has mentioned it once or twice but he always gets jumpy when I ask what they’re up to.”

“Maybe they’re just making a video together?” Technoblade suggests.

“For several months?”

“Maybe it’s a series?” Technoblade is grasping at straws and Wilbur can tell that he knows it. “Or maybe they’re just, you know, being _friends_.”

“Yeah, that makes more sense,” Phil agrees. “Still, I’ve noticed similar behaviour in Ranboo and Tubbo. I don’t spend a lot of time with Purpled but-”

“But he’s probably the same,” Wilbur sighs, running a hand through his hair to get it out of his eyes. 

“You know, this started about when that band started getting big,” Techno says. 

“What? The Multiplayers?” Wilbur asks. What would The Multiplayers have to do with this? 

“D’you think they’re being weird because of all those conspiracies?” Phil asks. 

“I mean, I think it would be weird for people to assume I was in a band that I have nothing to do with,” Techno says. “So maybe they’re just weirded out and taking some time?”

“I dunno,” Wilbur says. “It doesn’t seem like them. Wouldn’t they just address it? Why _haven’t_ they addressed it?”

“Maybe because Tubbo has some weird Twitter beef with them?” Philza guesses. “He and Player One have been tweeting at each other nonstop for the past couple of days.” 

_That_ had certainly been a strange development. It seems to have convinced a few people that Tubbo isn’t actually Player One (which is strange because couldn’t someone tweet at themself from two different accounts? It would be weird, sure, but they _could_ ). Wilbur hasn’t actually seen any of their exchanges, what with not using Twitter anymore, but Phil, Tommy, and Tubbo himself have kept him well up-to-date with it all. 

The call is quiet for a second before Phil says, “Oh. Wow.”

“Wow?” Techno inquires.

“That band. The Multiplayers. They’ve been _signed_.” 

...

**The Purpled Interlude:**

Purpled has been prepared for this record deal. 

They get contacted one morning through Twitter by a well-known record label. The label wants to set up a virtual meeting to discuss… important things with the band. While the rest of the band freaks out because they have no idea what they’re meant to do, Purpled contacts the lawyer he set up for them months ago. 

When it had looked like their original songs were really doing well, Purpled had contacted a lawyer, just in case. Now, he’s glad he did. He doesn’t want the band getting screwed over by a record label and Ms. Erica Asante will stop at nothing to make sure they get a fair deal. 

After several meetings, The Multiplayers come away with a record deal, full artistic control over their music, sound, and image, and the guarantee that the label won’t reveal their identities until they’re ready. Thank you, Ms. Asante, for realizing that non-disclosure agreements might be a good idea. 

Now, The Multiplayers get to make an _actual_ EP! All three of the original songs they have out now will be on it, plus Tubbo’s original (once it’s finished) and two _more_ originals! 

They’ve also got access to real recording studios, now. The label has studios in London, New York, Los Angeles, and Toronto. It sucks that they can’t all be in the same studio together right now but the fact that they can even be in a studio at all is amazing. 

To top it all off, if their first EP does well, the label will let The Multiplayers make a full album. When they’d first started the band, Purpled _never_ thought it would become this… _big_. He also didn’t expect for the band to become so important to the four of them. Yet, here he is. Here they _all_ are. Together. 

Now they just have to figure out how to balance streaming, making videos, school, and creating an EP. Oh. Sleeping and eating should probably go in that list somewhere, too. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New Songs Mentioned This Chapter:
> 
> [“Grow Up”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeF_eRMTsuY) by Paramore  
> ...  
> Again, check out Chinnii (@/Katilieen)’s art! You can find it [here!](https://twitter.com/Katilieen/status/1371670880493912066)
> 
> Anyway, thank you for reading!
> 
> -Cal

**Author's Note:**

> I have a Spotify playlist! I’ll be adding all of the original songs that The Multiplayers make covers of to it as I write the story! You can find it [HERE!](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1dPYmR2JuwWm2vfnBIjQW1?si=6cfa5cdff6814c98)
> 
> I also now have a tumblr: [calistawon](https://calistawon.tumblr.com/)


End file.
